BOSTON — The man accused of assaulting two South Boston women within hours of Amy Lord’s kidnapping and murder has a lengthy rap sheet that includes numerous car thefts and at least two assaults, according to court documents.

Prosecutors allege that Edwin Alemany attacked two women in their 20s on Tuesday and Wednesday in South Boston, stabbing one with a knife and physically assaulting the other. Both women escaped. Lord, 24, a Wilbraham native living in South Boston, was kidnapped on Tuesday and forced to withdraw money from several ATMs before she was murdered.

Alemany has been described as a “person of interest” in Lord’s murder. Suffolk County District Attorney spokesman Jake Wark said Friday that the Lord investigation “is open and its very active” but there have been no charges filed yet.

In court on Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Nicole Rimar said Alemany’s criminal history dates back to 1999, when he would have been around 15 years old. She said Alemany was charged as a juvenile with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and robbery.

Court records from Alemany’s adult life reveal a man who has been in and out of jail, mostly for stealing cars. He has committed at least two assaults and threatened to harm himself. A 2010 police report indicated that he was on a Department of Corrections suicide watch list.

Alemany’s first arrest for a violent crime as an adult came in 2003. According to a Boston police incident report, the victim of the assault was driving his pickup truck when he saw Alemany yelling and punching a traffic sign. A witness saw Alemany throw a rock at the truck. When the man asked Alemany why he struck his car, Alemany told him he “didn’t care about life” and began swearing. Alemany then stabbed the victim in his chest with a knife. The victim pulled a gun on Alemany and restrained him until the police arrived.

While he was being booked, Alemany struck his head and face on a Plexiglas window and punched the wall, trying to hurt himself. He threatened suicide, the police said, and was taken to Faulkner Hospital.

Alemany pleaded guilty to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. A charge of assault with intent to murder was dismissed. He was sentenced to two years in the Suffolk County House of Corrections, with all but six months suspended. However, in 2006, he was sentenced to serve the remaining 18 months of his sentence after the court found that he had not reported for probation since mid-2004, and did not show up to a court hearing. He was released in July 2007, according to state records.

Alemany was arrested again in 2010 for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, along with other charges related to an auto theft. According to court documents, Alemany stole a car from outside a home. When the owner and a friend followed Alemany and parked in front of the stolen car, Alemany put the car in reverse, lost control and struck a pole on the sidewalk. When Alemany was taken to the hospital for treatment, he became loud and aggressive and kicked the hospital security officer and a nurse in the face while wearing sneakers. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in the Suffolk County House of Corrections. He was released in March 2012.

A separate police incident report from 2010 accused Alemany of another car theft, in which he struck a median and drove in the wrong lane before crashing into a fence while trying to evade the police. He appears to have served time for those charges concurrently with his sentence for the assault.

In 2008, a criminal complaint in Roxbury charged Alemany in an assault and battery case involving a female victim who Alemany knew and who he allegedly stabbed with a knife. No additional information was available regarding those charges, but there is no indication that he was convicted.

The Boston Herald reported that according to a Boston police report, a woman was attacked and strangled at around 2 a.m. in a Boston park last September. As she fell, she grabbed an item. When she regained consciousness, she found Alemany’s wallet. The Herald reported that Alemany was not arrested for the assault, and Boston police are reviewing the incident. (The Boston Police held a press conference Friday evening. Watch MassLive.com for updated information from that press conference.)

In addition to violent crimes, Alemany has a history of car theft. In 2004, he was arrested in Boston for stealing a car and driving recklessly as the police chased him. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year in the House of Corrections, according to documents at West Roxbury District Court.

In 2002, he was arrested and convicted for felony breaking and entering in Newton. A police log at the time reported that he and another teenager broke into a car. He served some jail time and was released in April 2004, according to state records.

He was arrested two other times in 2002 in Boston after the police caught Alemany and others breaking into cars, according to court documents. The charges in both those cases were dismissed.

A document included in a West Roxbury court case listed additional charges that have been filed against Alemany, including larceny and receiving stolen property in Brookline in 2008 and assault and battery in Boston in 2006. Details of those cases were not immediately available.

He was also arrested for trespassing in West Roxbury in 2007, for loitering with a group of men who had previously been the subject of complaints from community members who said the men were causing a disturbance. The charges were dismissed.

Alemany’s lengthy arrest record is likely to raise questions regarding why he was free when he allegedly attacked the women in South Boston. Robert Jubinville, a long-time criminal defense attorney from Milton, who has an office in Holyoke, said one factor is that all the charges were brought in District Court, not Superior Court. By law, a district court judge cannot sentence anyone to more than 2½ years in the county House of Corrections.

More minor cases are typically adjudicated in District Court, which is why the penalties are less severe. Jubinville said theft, as a property crime, is typically brought to District Court. It is also not unusual for an assault that does not result in serious injury to be judged there. While the state has a law that gives enhanced penalties to repeat offenders in Superior Court, that does not apply in District Court, he said.

“He’s going to get out at some point in time,” Jubinville said. “Once he finishes his sentence, he has to be released.”